[Berlin, GERMANY] The Deutsche Telekom AG has opened up an internal investigation into the
activities of Wolfgang Keuntje, the former CEO of T-Online. On Sunday, the
company confirmed news reports of this. A speaker for the concern told
Reuters yesterday that the investigation is focusing on whether there was a
connection between the former CEO and the unauthorized activities of four
T-Online managers.
The newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” had reported that Keuntje not only knew of
the unauthorized activities of four leading T-Online managers, but that he
was involved in them. Those close to the company said that managers doing
the CEO’s groundwork had, as limited partners in a GmbH & Co. limited
partnership, indirectly had shares in an events promoting agency. This firm
was apparently used to procure overpriced sponsoring contracts for T-Online.
It is currently thought that the sums reached the height of 16 million
deutschmarks.
On October 27, Deutsche Telekom confirmed reports that an internal
investigation was being carried out to discover whether executives from
T-Online’s upper management ranks were involved in unauthorized activities.
A speaker for the company said in Bonn that clues from the public regarding
this were being followed. If the suspicion is substantiated, the “necessary
steps will be taken if need be”, and there would be personal consequences.
Wolfgang Keuntje (43) surprisingly resigned from his post as chairman of the
board of directors of T-Online International AG at the end of August. Other
directors followed him, and the management crisis worsened.